Explosive-engine.



N0. 540.004. PATENTBD MAR. 5, 1007. 0. H. BROOKS.

EXPLOSIVB ENGINE.

APPLIUATIOH rum) AUG. '1. 1005.

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[IV V EN 7 OR.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

CHARLESH. BROOKS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BROOKS MOTOR COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MlCHI GAN.'

EXPLOSlVE-ENGINE- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 5, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. Baoons, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Explosive- Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in explosive-engines of the multiplecylinder type, and more especially to four-cycle engines of this class employing four or more vertical cylinders, the object of the invention being to provide means for introducing the explosive charges directly into the lower ends of the cylinders in such a manner that the pistons and parts will be cooled thereby, thus obviating, when radiating ribs are used, the necessity for a water-jacket. A charge will be forced into one of the cylinders at each halfrevolution of the crank-shaft, driving the residue of the previously-exploded charge from the cylinder and filling the same 't its fullest capacity, thereby securing the .-.'aximum power and speed with the use of a minimum amount of explosive mixture.

A further object of the invention is to provide an engine having the several advantages of the particular construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, all as hereinafter more fully described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 is a vertical section on the line a: a: of Fig. 2 of a device embodying the invention and showing the pistons and valvecages for one set of cylinders in side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line y y of Fig. 1 drawn to a smaller scale.

As shown in the drawings, 1, 2, 3, and 4 are the vertically-extending parallel cylinders opening at their lower ends into an air-tight crank-case 5, formed with a bearing at each end fo the crank-shaft 6 and with a partitionwall 7, which divides the crank-chamber transversely into two equal air-tight chambers 8 and 9, and is formed with a bearing 10 to engage the shaft between its two oppositely-extending cranks 11 and 12. The pis-' tons 13 in the two cylinders 1 and 2 are connected to the crank 11 in the chamber 8 to move simultaneously in the same direction, and the pistons in the cylinders 3a'nd 4 are connected to the crank 12 to move together in a direction opposite to that of the other pair of pistons.

ln each piston-head is an opening Within which is secured a ring 14, formed with a valve-seat for a valve 15, adapted to openinto the cylinder above the piston, and a spring 16 on the stem of said valve normally holds the same to its seat. In the cylinderhead directly opposite said valve 15 is an opening, and extending upward around this opening is a cylindrical portion '17, forming a cylindrical bearing to receive a cylindri cal valve-ca e 18, which fits closely therein and is detachal aly held in place, with ashoulder 19, formed at its inner end engaging a shoulder on the cylinder-head by bolts extending through a flange on its upper end into the end of the bearing 17. The inner end of the cage is open and formed with a valveseat for an exhaust-valve 20, the stem 21 of which extends upward through a guide-bearing on the closed upper end 22 of the cage, and a coiled spring 23, sleeved on the outer end of said stem between a collar '24 thereon and the end of the cage, normally holds the valve to its seat. In opposite sides of each cage are openings 25, which register with similar openings in the sides of the cylindrical bearings 17 and exhaust-pipes 26 are secured in these openings to conduct away the exhaust, V

Extendin longitudinally through the crank-chamiers at one side of and parallel with the crank-shaft is a earn-shaft 27, which receives motion from said crank-shaft by means of a small gear 28 on said shaft in mesh with a gear 29 of twice the size on the cam-shaft. Cams 30 are secured on the cam-shaft, and extending upward through vertical guide-bearings 31 on the to of a laterally-extending portion of the cran -case are the push-rods 32, provided with frictionrolls 33 on their lower ends to engage said cams. Mounted in suitable hearings on the upper ends of the cylinders is a fixed shaft 34, extending horizontally adjacent to and at one side of the upper ends of the valvestems 21 of the exhaust-valves, and on this fixed shaft are mounted to freely turn rockerbars 35, each having an arm extending laterally from the shaft in one direction into enga ement with the upper end of one of said -va ve-stems and an arm extending in the opposite direction adapted to be engaged by the upper end of one of the pushrods, which when moved vertically by its cam will rock one of said bars on the fixed shaft and open one of the exhaust-valves.

36 is any ordinary form of mixing-valve for suppl ng a mixture of air and vapor, which is dl awn into the crank-case upon the upward or suction stroke of the pistons through a pipe 37, leading. into the bottom of said crank-case, said'pi'e bein branched to connect with each cran -cham er, and each branch is provided with an upwardly-opening valve 38 to prevent the air from being forced outward through the pipe and mixingvalve uponvthe compression or downstroke of the pistons.

The cams 30 are so set that they will open the exhaust-valves in a' certain timed relation to the movement of the pistons and give the engine a four-cycle operation, and the pistons of each pair. of cylinders move simultaneously in the same direction, so that when the piston in cylinder [is on its downstroke its vaive 15 will be 0 ened, and the explosive charge previously rawn into the crankchamber 8 by the upstroke of said pistons 1 and 2 will ass into the cylinder through said valve, and at the same time the piston in cylinder 2 will be forced downward by a c arge ex loded therein and its valve held to its seat t ereby, thus assisting to force the charge contained in the crank-chamber into cylinde 1: At the same time that the pistons in cylinders 1 and 2 are moving downward, as described, the pistons in cylinders 3 and 4am moving upward, the piston in'cylinder 3 compressing a charge 'ust previously drawn in and the 'iston in cylinder 4 forcing the residue of a cliarge exploded during the previous downstroke of said piston out past the open exhaust-valve of said cylinder, During the next or upstroke of the piston in cylinder 1 the charge just drawn in is com pressed, and the same movementof the pie ton in cylinder 2 forces out the residue of the charge ust ex loded therein. The char 'e just com resse by the u stroke of the preton in cy inder 3 is ex 10 ed durin the next or downward stroke t ereof, and urin the simultaneous downward movement 0 the piston' in cylinder 4 a charge is taken into said cylinder, its intake-valve being free to lift after the pressure thereon has been taken, off by the previous exhaust movement of said iston After compression the charge in cy inder 1 is exploded during the third movement of the piston in the c cle of operation, a charge is taken into cy inder 2, the

residue from the previous explosion is exhausted from cylinder 3, and in cylinder 4 the charge just taken in is compressed. During the fourth movement of the istons, which completes the cycle of o oration, the residue from the charge just exp oded 'in cylinder forced out, the charge just taken into cylinder 2 is compressed, a new charge is taken into cylinder 3, and in cylinder 4 an explosion takes place. This operation is made possible by dividing the crank-case into two separate air-tight chambers and causing the two pistons in the two cylinders communicating with each chamber to move in the same direction, thus creating upon the downstroke of each pair of pistons a high compression in their crank-chamber. Upon each downstroke of the pistons in each pair of cylinders an explosion takes place in either one or the other of the cylinders of that pair, so that one of the valves is automatically held to its seat, thus causing the charge to be driven with a great deal of force into the other cylinder. The exhaust-valve is referably held open for a short time after t e intakevalve opens, so that the inrushing charge will force out the residue oi the previouslyexploded charge not expelled by the clearing or exhaust stroke of the piston, and therefore each cylinder is completely cleared of the products of combustion and a very full charge taken in, givinga maximum of power and speed with the use or a minimum amount of explosive mixture.

The coolin of the pistons and parts is so aided by taking in the char es through the piston-heads from the cran -case that by 'forming the cylinders with radiating ribs 39 the necessity for a water-jacket and water circulation is obviated.

The head of each cylinder is shown as being cast integral with its cylinder, the opening therein being of sufiicient size to permit the removal of the inlet-valve 15 therethr'ough; but, if desired, said heads may be made separate and bolted to the cylinders to ermit of freer access to the piston-head.

y providing a removable cage for the ex- IOO haust-valve of each cylinder the removal of said valve is greatly facilitated and its seat may be easily reground at anytime.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a multicylinder-engine having aseries of pairs, of cylinders, the combination therewith of an air-tight crank-case to which the cylinders are secured in communication therewith; a crank-shaft in said crank-case provided with cranks; pistons in said cylin ders connected in pairs to said cranks, the.

istons of each pair moving simultaneously ..1n the same direction; a wall dividing the crank-case into separate crank-chambers with each of which two cylinders containing a pair of pistons communicate; means for admitting explosivecharges compressed in each chamber into one of the cylinders in communication therewith, and ,mean's for controlling the exhaust from theeylinders.

2. In an explosive-engine, the combinetion of a 5 es of cylinders arranged in pairs, an air-tight crank-case to which the cylinders are secured in communication therewith, a fil'illtlfllkwflll in said crank-case d1- viding t e same into crank-chambers into each of which a pair of cylinders opens, a crank-shaft in the crank-case having ranks,

pistons in each pair of cylinders conneetedto thecran'ks to move simultaneously in the same direction, inlet-valves in the heads of the pistons, exhaust-valves in the heads of the cylinders, and means for operating the exhaust-valves in timed relation to the movement of the lpistons.

3 In a multicy 1nder-engine, the combination with a series of pairs of vertical cylinders having open lower ends, of an air-tight crank-case to which the open ends of the cylinders are secured, a partition-wall dividing the crank=case into separate crank-chambers with each of which a pair of cylinders communicate, a crank-shaft, pistons in the two cylinders opening into each chamber connected to the crank-shaft to move simultaneousl in the same direction, valves in the head; of the pistons to ermit the explosive charges from the chamiiers to pass upward through the pistons into the cylinders, exhaustvalv'es 1n the heads of the cylinders, a cam-shaft, gears for transmitting motion from the crank-shaft to the cam-shaft, cams on the cam-shaft, and means operated by said cams'for opening the exhaust-valves in timed relation to the movement of the pistonsl 4. In an explosive-engine, the combination of four or more vertical cylinders arranged in pairs and having open lower ,ends, an air-tight crank-case formed -With separate crank-chambers each in free communication with one pair of cylinders, a horizontal crank-shaft having a crank in each chamber, pistons in each pair of cylinders connected to the crank in the chamber to move simultaneously in the same direction, a valve to admit explosive charges to each chamber, a valve in the head of each piston to permit the charges to pass into the cylinder above the pistons, an exhaust-valve in the upper end of each cylinder and means for opening said valves.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. BROOKS.

Witnesses:

O'r'ro F. BARTHEL, OLIVER E. BARTHEL. 

